Munich Filmworks

Since 2010 Munich Filmworks engages in the production of multimedia content.
The main focus is on 3D and VFX (esp. dynamics and simulation). MF is also concerned with photography,
image editing, tool developement and coding in general (C, Python, Maxscript, .NET).

Background

Munich Filmworks originated from the collaboration of the two students Delano Osterbrauck
and Wolfgang Wiedmeyer, who dealt with photography, videography and 3D in their spare time besides
their economical and engineering studies. Delano Osterbrauck occupies himself with 3D, VFX
(especially dynamics and simulation) and tool developement (C, Maxscript, .NET).
Wolfgang Wiedmeyer devotes himself to photography and filming. As a passionate coder
he also puts great effort into improving free software and enhancing privacy/security
on the internet. We bring these different abilities together
to raise Munich Filmworks to a new level and to contribute to other people's work and craft their visions
as time allows.

Other work

In this section you will find work references in the field of photography.

Das Duell

"Das Duell" tells the story of Steven, who is chased by mysterious secret agents. He has to make use of all his
special skills to protect his and his girlfriend's life. Although he does not know with whom he deals with, the
agents seem to be very well informed about him and they do not hesitate to bring their destructive weapons into
action.

Contact

We would also be happy if you comment on our blog or leave a remark on our Youtube and Vimeo channels!

FAQ

1. How did you come up with the idea to do this stuff?
A: It originated from the delight in filming, photography and image editing.
2. Which cameras do you use for your shots?
A: We can use a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and a Panasonic SD707 for our film exposures.
3. When is the release of the movie?
A: Last year, there were not enough days of shooting because of several unfavorable circumstances and hence, we decided not to release a full short film, but an extended trailer, which presents the concept of the short film. In this way, the project can come to an end in a foreseeable time.
4. Why do you not number your camera equipment among the budget?
A: Every purchase, which we did not make explicitly for the trailer, is not numbered. Otherwise we would have to add the costs for our PCs and others which would be boundless.

For the originally planned short film we used a storyboard by composing various images and hand-drawn sketches. The concept art was especially helpful for the imagination, planning and realization of the action shots.In the clip above you can see a comparison of early concept arts and the final results. In view of workability and practicality considerations the initial idea of the shots were kept but some details of the storyboard have been abandoned or changed.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.

Description

During the making of this shot our self-built dolly was not already optimized for rough ground, which is why the raw footage is not only strongly blurred, but we also had to deal with rolling shutter and sporadic unsharpness. Several rolling shutter corrections and tracking iterations were necessary before the actual editing.Rotoscoping of the persons made it possible to edit the background separately from the foreground. In this way, the depth of focus was increased, vignetting was added in particular to the background and the actors were emphasized in their brightness values. Depth and the impression of sharpness was attempted to be achieved with the added air particles.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.

Description

The collapsing bridge scene was the most difficult CG-scene of the Extended Trailer "Das Duell". At the beginning of the concept phase of the project we were not certain whether it is possible for one person with one workstation (with a non-professional Geforce graphics card) to realize such a scene but at least we got a final result which you can see above.Every object except the vehicles had to be modeled and textured. First the environment was created: the highway with its guardrails, different kinds of highway signs that were textured with images we took from highway bridges and finally the vegetation on the left and right side and also in the middle of the highway had to be placed. The modeling of the bridge had to be done in a way that allowed a complex simulation with rigid- and softbodies. That means that it was important to ensure that there were no intersecting objects in the simulation and the tradeoff between detail on the one hand and polygon reducing on the other hand in order to not overpower the simulation engine and not getting a bad viewport experience in 3dsmax had to be taken in account. Especially the handrails on top of the bridge were a stress test for the engine as well as for the graphics card. The vehicle on top of the bridge is not part of the simulation but hand-animated.The simulation results were enhanced by additional particle systems. The particles (stones) were modeled with different noise modifiers and emit from the breaking points of the bridge. The closer one particle system is to the camera the more detailed the particles are. This approach allowed to handle even a high amount of particles.The dust simulation is driven by additional particles which also emit from the breaking points. It is partitioned in three sections to get more detail out of each simulation. The explosions are also fully CG.The scene is rendered with multiple passes and then composited in AfterEffects with all the other elements.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.

Description

In this scene the conditions of illumination were not optimal and we had problems concerning the white balance In the underground garage there was artificial light as well as daylight, while the actress was additionally lightened by a weak LED flashlight for lack of a more professional lighting equipment. The brightness and the contrast were adjusted accordingly during the post-production and further optimizations, like the skin retouching, were performed.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.

Description

The "bridge scene" for introducing the main actor is a key scene and therefore, it was shot over several days of shooting from different perspectives and with various courses of action. With the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, a big improvement in the depth of focus was possible due to the full frame sensor. The Panasonic SD707 was perfect for the slow motion shots because of the high frame rate.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.

Description

A professional make-up artist, who was very involved in her work, was responsible for an optimal preparation of the appearance of the actors. During the make-up of the homeless person, the focus was on a rough look including injuries, artificial whisker, a suitable wig and clothes.

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Description

This is one of the first shots, which was created for the autobahn scene based on the technique of 3D Camera Mapping. Here, the scene is "rebuilt" in 3D and the original footage is projected as a texture on the geometry. In this way, camera movements are possible to a certain extent - like a short fly over a autobahn. Sometimes the disadvantage is a distortion of some image areas, especially the ones, whose objects are not represented by geometry.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.

Description

Besides the scenes with added CG, the car computer scenes were the most challenging during postproduction. Already at the set, it has to be clear, how the shot will look like in the end, which motion sequences are necessary and how much time they will take. The camera was guided manually alongside the screen with the carrier of a model railway - the camera shake was removed afterwards by motion tracking. The screen content was designed in Illustrator CS5 and CS6 over a long time and animated in AE CS6 with key frames and expressions - in this way, for example, all the speedometers are linked.The dust of the original shot was extracted from the picture with the help of Photoshop, the green markers were spotted out, perspectively straightened out and finally superimposed on the screen content. Additionally, chromatic aberration was added for a firm keystroke and the reflection of the finger was simulated with color gradients and masks.

Description

In order to also generate interesting tracking shots and camera panning on the autobahn, we have to rely solely on computer-generated pictures (CGI) at some points. Additionaly, the rendering on a single PC takes a lot of time. In other scenes the original footage was manipulated with the help of 3D Camera Mapping and complemented with CG elements. For the textures of the highway signs and other details pictures are used, which were shot from highway bridges.

Description

In order to increase the quality of the scenes with a moving camera, a simple dolly was built, on which the camera can be placed with a tripod. The PVC pipes can be stiffened by wooden poles in the interior for a better performance on certain ground. However, two persons are needed to really stabilize the dolly shot.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.

Description

For the originally planned short film we used a storyboard by composing various images and hand-drawn sketches. The concept art was especially helpful for the imagination, planning and realization of the action shots.In the clip above you can see a comparison of early concept arts and the final results. In view of workability and practicality considerations the initial idea of the shots were kept but some details of the storyboard have been abandoned or changed.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.

Description

During the making of this shot our self-built dolly was not already optimized for rough ground, which is why the raw footage is not only strongly blurred, but we also had to deal with rolling shutter and sporadic unsharpness. Several rolling shutter corrections and tracking iterations were necessary before the actual editing.Rotoscoping of the persons made it possible to edit the background separately from the foreground. In this way, the depth of focus was increased, vignetting was added in particular to the background and the actors were emphasized in their brightness values. Depth and the impression of sharpness was attempted to be achieved with the added air particles.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.

Description

The collapsing bridge scene was the most difficult CG-scene of the Extended Trailer "Das Duell". At the beginning of the concept phase of the project we were not certain whether it is possible for one person with one workstation (with a non-professional Geforce graphics card) to realize such a scene but at least we got a final result which you can see above.Every object except the vehicles had to be modeled and textured. First the environment was created: the highway with its guardrails, different kinds of highway signs that were textured with images we took from highway bridges and finally the vegetation on the left and right side and also in the middle of the highway had to be placed. The modeling of the bridge had to be done in a way that allowed a complex simulation with rigid- and softbodies. That means that it was important to ensure that there were no intersecting objects in the simulation and the tradeoff between detail on the one hand and polygon reducing on the other hand in order to not overpower the simulation engine and not getting a bad viewport experience in 3dsmax had to be taken in account. Especially the handrails on top of the bridge were a stress test for the engine as well as for the graphics card. The vehicle on top of the bridge is not part of the simulation but hand-animated.The simulation results were enhanced by additional particle systems. The particles (stones) were modeled with different noise modifiers and emit from the breaking points of the bridge. The closer one particle system is to the camera the more detailed the particles are. This approach allowed to handle even a high amount of particles.The dust simulation is driven by additional particles which also emit from the breaking points. It is partitioned in three sections to get more detail out of each simulation. The explosions are also fully CG.The scene is rendered with multiple passes and then composited in AfterEffects with all the other elements.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.

Description

In this scene the conditions of illumination were not optimal and we had problems concerning the white balance In the underground garage there was artificial light as well as daylight, while the actress was additionally lightened by a weak LED flashlight for lack of a more professional lighting equipment. The brightness and the contrast were adjusted accordingly during the post-production and further optimizations, like the skin retouching, were performed.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.

Description

The "bridge scene" for introducing the main actor is a key scene and therefore, it was shot over several days of shooting from different perspectives and with various courses of action. With the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, a big improvement in the depth of focus was possible due to the full frame sensor. The Panasonic SD707 was perfect for the slow motion shots because of the high frame rate.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.

Description

A professional make-up artist, who was very involved in her work, was responsible for an optimal preparation of the appearance of the actors. During the make-up of the homeless person, the focus was on a rough look including injuries, artificial whisker, a suitable wig and clothes.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.

Description

This is one of the first shots, which was created for the autobahn scene based on the technique of 3D Camera Mapping. Here, the scene is "rebuilt" in 3D and the original footage is projected as a texture on the geometry. In this way, camera movements are possible to a certain extent - like a short fly over a autobahn. Sometimes the disadvantage is a distortion of some image areas, especially the ones, whose objects are not represented by geometry.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.

Description

Besides the scenes with added CG, the car computer scenes were the most challenging during postproduction. Already at the set, it has to be clear, how the shot will look like in the end, which motion sequences are necessary and how much time they will take. The camera was guided manually alongside the screen with the carrier of a model railway - the camera shake was removed afterwards by motion tracking. The screen content was designed in Illustrator CS5 and CS6 over a long time and animated in AE CS6 with key frames and expressions - in this way, for example, all the speedometers are linked.The dust of the original shot was extracted from the picture with the help of Photoshop, the green markers were spotted out, perspectively straightened out and finally superimposed on the screen content. Additionally, chromatic aberration was added for a firm keystroke and the reflection of the finger was simulated with color gradients and masks.

Description

In order to also generate interesting tracking shots and camera panning on the autobahn, we have to rely solely on computer-generated pictures (CGI) at some points. Additionaly, the rendering on a single PC takes a lot of time. In other scenes the original footage was manipulated with the help of 3D Camera Mapping and complemented with CG elements. For the textures of the highway signs and other details pictures are used, which were shot from highway bridges.

Description

In order to increase the quality of the scenes with a moving camera, a simple dolly was built, on which the camera can be placed with a tripod. The PVC pipes can be stiffened by wooden poles in the interior for a better performance on certain ground. However, two persons are needed to really stabilize the dolly shot.